


A Katana Aimed at the Wrong Heart

by Helenpraspro



Series: The Surrendered Souls [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Big Brother Uchiha Itachi, Brother-Sister Relationships, Brotherly Love, Character Turned Into a Ghost, Female Uchiha Sasuke, Gen, Suicide, Uchiha Itachi Needs a Hug, Uchiha Massacre, Uchiha Sasuke Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:54:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27614452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Helenpraspro/pseuds/Helenpraspro
Summary: The Uchiha house is dark. Itachi is lost. Satsuki (sasuke) can’t leave him behind.
Relationships: Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Sasuke
Series: The Surrendered Souls [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2119143
Kudos: 41





	A Katana Aimed at the Wrong Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! this is a little one-shot, as angsty as I was able to write it. English is not my mother tongue, so please forgive me for the possible mistakes.

_You and me alone_

_Madness of world locked away_

_Peace and quiet reigns_

Uchiha Satsuki couldn’t remember a time he wasn’t there.

He used to go on long, hard missions, and he used to come back home soaked in blood. There were nights he was shaking and trying to breath under bed covers in the middle of the night, and when he wasn’t busy, he was so exhausted that she felt guilty to ask for help or training.

But he was _there._

he zoned out a lot, and when she asked what he was thinking about, he poked her forehead and said nothing. He left for missions with an assuring smile, and came back with a broken one.

but he was _always_ _there_.

then _it_ happened, and he suddenly wouldn’t _go_. She wasn’t sure it was a good thing or not.

He was sometimes the brother she remembered. He wandered around, did his chores, joked and smiled. He poked her in the forehead. He was the smart, perfect, perfect brother she remembered. and… and...

And sometimes he just wasn’t.

Sometimes he got lost in their own house. Unaware and numb, like a blank page. whenever she asked him something, he would just blink and walk away, like he’d forgotten her _existence._

He was… different. If she irritated him enough, her gentle brother hissed in annoyance threateningly, and released waves of his horrifying, killing intent. Then he wouldn’t talk to her, just glared with rage and disappointment the whole day in silence, until she surrendered, and begged for his forgiveness.

He could fill her with sheer happiness. With his calm, gentle presence, but also was able to easily paralyze her with fear.

He was wandering around the house that night, again. Even from the farthest point of the house, she could hear his footsteps shuffling on the floorboard. Sometimes they were heavy and purposeless. But that day, they were horrified. lost. searching for who-knows-what. with small groans echoing all around the empty, silent house.

Up and down, from one room to another. Closing and opening the doors. 

She couldn't take it anymore. She threw the blanket away violently and got up.

“What's the problem, Itachi?” She said, standing in the doorstep. He was still, kneeling on the kitchen’s floor in front of the cabinets. His silhouette turned at once to face her.

“I can't find the cloth,” He said, looking straight into her eyes, but not seeing her. "The one mother used for cleaning."

“what do you want it for?” she asked, trying not to seem impatient. She just wanted to get back to bed, and drown herself in silence. Her brother didn't seem to care.

"I can't find it,” he whispered, more to himself than her. “I used to find everything everyone had lost, and now I can't find it.”

How could she respond to that? 

“It used to be in the second drawer, I guess.” She broke the silence with sheer effort. Itachi flinched.

He finally found the said piece of cloth, picked up the largest bowl possible, and put it under flowing water. 

Its burbling voice was the only sound audible.

“what are you planning to do with that?” She asked again.

“Scrub the floor.” He simply said. 

He waited patiently, until the bowl was full, and picked It up carefully. She got out of his way, letting him pass, and followed him to the living room soundlessly.

Itachi kneeled on the same spot they once did. He soaked the cloth in the water, wrung it out, and started scrubbing.

_Scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing, soaking the towel, wringing, scrubbing, scrubbing..._

She watched him work in darkness, but couldn't find the words to tell him that there wasn't any blood left on the flaky floor.

Not anymore.

***

There were no such things as day and night in the Uchiha household.

Curtains were always pulled tight. He didn't like the light, and firmly believed that his flickering figure would fade instantly If they let the bright rays of sunshine in. In his opinion, daylight was annoying, windows were just as unnecessary, the Uchiha are identical with moonlight pale skin color and…

And the dead don’t need to know what time of day it was.

Satsuki wasn’t dead. Not yet. She had to start her day, eat breakfast and go to the academy in a routine. she technically needed to _finish_ her day routinely, too. 

Every night, she would go to bed, and her brother's deliberate footsteps would get closer and closer, until they stop at her doorstep. He would lean on the cold walls, and she would curl herself even more under cold, cold blankets, trying to sleep under Itachi’s unwavering gaze. sometimes she would succeed, sometimes not. 

She sometimes stayed up all night, counting his small, almost nonexistent breaths. And always, she would wake up to his steady, tireless gaze.

until one day, the footsteps didn't stop. They continued their way to her bed, not missing a bit.

“brother…?” Itachi ignored her completely. Itachi lifted the blanket and his cold, slender figure slid next to her.

“It’s cold,” he said. “I'm cold. let me stay, please.”

Satsuki's heart was racing a mile per second. That was not how it always worked. She breathed harder, but managed a little nod. his tired, hollow, onyx eyes were staring right into her. They were close. Too close. 

She closed her eyes, and expected his figure to vanish from her vision, to surrender to the darkness behind her eyelids, but It didn't. He stayed behind his closed eyelids covered in a still blood stained ANBU uniform and…

His hand touched the blade of her shoulder. She felt electricity running down her body, and gasped. "wha-"

“shhhh-” His hand continued his way to her back, pulling her closer in his freezing embrace. "You're warm." He said, his breath dancing on her neck.

She couldn't respond through her chattering teeth.

He never stopped in the doorstep after that night. 

He didn’t do anything. Just lied there, embracing her, watching her like she would vanish at any second. 

It was a sign of love. Of pure affection. She found out after a few nights. His feelings were nothing less than pure, and she could relate. She was feeling the same thing, after all.

She _understood_.

But every night, curling under the blankets. She wished, prayed to every god, for him to not come. To forget. Or just get tired, and stop.

He never did.

_  
  
_

It was suffocating.

The Uchiha's house, once alive and filled with warm happiness, now was dark and _suffocating._ His constant gaze was suffocating. The smell of Iron and blood was suffocating. The darkness, the silence, the DeathDeathDeath…

_Him!_

_I can’t take it anymore!_

She packed to leave. She took everything she thought she couldn't find in another -any- house in the Uchiha compound.

She was going to leave all this pure misery behind. She was determined, until she heard the voice.

“You are leaving.” Her hand froze on the door handle. _Nonono no please don't-_ “You're abandoning me.”

Silence.

“I'm sorry,” She forced the broken words out. “I'm sorry.”

He just stared at her back. Saying nothing. For a minute. Or an hour.

It was hard to tell.

“Don't leave me alone.” he whispered, his voice shaking desperately. “ _Please._.. don't leave me alone, Satsuki.”

“I have to.” she squeezed the cold handle in her hand. “I'm sorry.” She repeated. She was. But- 

_let me go. Please let me go._

“You're leaving me...here?” He breathed shakily. “You’re leaving me alone with...them?”

_Them… the ghosts._

_It's not just you! I... I can see them too. They hunt me too!_

_Don't be so selfish!_

“I understand.” He mumbled, and she flinched. _what?_ “I'm...sorry. I kept you here... it sure is hard for you. It was all my fault." 

"you.... I’m sorry. selfish. you... need to go. so… selfish. so… sorry.” his voice shattered. just like her heart.

_I can’t. I… can’t… leave him...no!_

“Nii-san.” she called. “Nii-san, I won’t…’

“NO! No you have to go! I can't do this to you. I...I will manage. I’m sorry...sorry.”

“Nii..” She turned to look at him. He was shaking! She freed her backpack's strap of her shoulder, hurrying toward his panting silhouette. 

“I won't be going! I won’t. see? I‘m here. I'm always here. I won't leave you alone with them. you wouldn't have. I know. I’m sorry. stop. I’m sorry. Nii-san, I’m s...so sorry. please... for me. Yes! I promise!”

Satsuki's voice broke somewhere on the way. Itachi shook, and pleaded in hushed voice. _Do_ _n't leave me. Don't leave me please._

_I will never, I will never._

She didn't.

She could endure the painful wails echoing through the house, or sleepless nights under the cold blanket. but she couldn’t stand this. his scared, hopeless sobs. His shaking figure in her arms.

Not once more.

***

She stares into the stone, silver plate and remembers.

_"She is not in a condition to…”_

_“She has to. The way they found her... people need to know she really is grieving. Or they'll view her as a suspect for the rest of her life. It's unavoidable. Uchiha Satsuki has to attend her parent’s funeral, and_ **_grieve_ ** _.”_

_There were a lot of them. Some for their precious people who were unlucky enough to be Uchiha, and some just to quench their curiosity._

_But all of them were watching her. Obviously or furtively._

The wind is breezing pleasantly, ruffling through her short, badly cut hair.

She kneels to put the camellia flowers right under the dear, beautiful name engraved on the stone. She doesn't know what the flower represents, but he liked them, so it's ok.

_It wasn't raining, like the sky was mocking them. Although it had, the day before. she knew from the wet mud soaking in her black pants. Like blood that soaked into the Anbu uniform. Like the darkness that soaked in her sight._

_T_ _hat night was fresh in her mind. Itachi's figure, coated in blood and his katana, aimed in the wrong direction._

_She realized people were looking at her with funny expressions, but...it took her a few seconds to notice how loud she was screaming._

_He sure is lonely, a forgotten name on a silver stone, she thought for a second._

She opens the paper door with a soft voice. "Tadaima." she says, struggling with her shoes. when takes them off, she puts them neatly aside, and walks inside the living room, were he is sitting.

“Okaeri.” her dead brother smiles at her.

She smiles back.

_***_   
  


_“W-why... brother?”_

_He looked down at her scared, shaking figure. something wet was shining in the corner of his eyes._

_“Satsuki.”_

_He raised his katana, she gasped._

_“Close your eyes.”_

_She couldn’t. She didn’t want to die. Didn’tdidn’tdidn't._

_"It's ok. Just close your eyes.” His voice was gentle, but shaky._

_He could do this. Make you believe everything is alright when the world is collapsing around you. Even when his eyes are filled with desperate tears._

_She closed them. Waiting. Shaking._

_“forgive me, little sister.” Tears hit the floor._

_She screamed._

_The katana slashed the wrong heart._

_And he was gone._

_Except he wasn’t._


End file.
